OCR Text

New Braunfels Herald Zeitung (Newspaper) - June 14, 2005, New Braunfels, Texas
TUESDAY, JUNE 14,2005
Mill 1000571 12/30/Ms) SOUTHWEST HIC ROEUCLISHERS 2627 E VftWDELL DR EL FASO TX 7990?
■MHP EL FASO TX 7990?
11,,, J |, | H11111111 ii 1111 n 11111
Zehung
SPORTS SWIMMING
The Landa Park Dolphins swim team sending several to region following Saturday's championships. Page 5, 6
11 IWIMWWflilf I 'H WHIM "11 VII I
FORUM
COLUMN
Mike Reagan discusses the historical facts of Democrats' involvements in previous wars. Page 4A
NHI
MAGICAL CHILD
Speed humps idea bumped
Photos by MANDY REARY/Herald-Zeitung
Leanne Rasor and daughter, Shelby, inspect their pottery before setting it to dry in the 'finished work' area at Buck Pottery in Gruene.
Workshop lets children create clay art
By Leigh Jones
Staff Writer
Residents on North Ranch Estates Boulevard, denied stop signs at the last city council meeting, will not get engineered speed humps either.
While coun-cilmembers liked the idea of the cushioned, hard rubber humps better than the signs, they choked on the price for each strip — $9,000.
City Engineer Mike Short recommended three strips for the long street, a $27,000 project, to appease families plagued by speeders.
Even City Manager Chuck Pinto, who was chomping at the bit to test out the relatively new speed reduction tools, admitted they were pricey.
“This is the perfect test case for these humps because the street is long, wide and rela
tively straight,” he said. “But, they are expensive.”
Although city policy called for the street’s residents to pay for 50 percent of the project, Pinto recommended the city foot the entire bill as part of a six month pilot program to test the humps’ effectiveness.
Councilwoman Gail Pospisil balked at the city paying so much to stop only a few speeders.
“At first, I thought they were a good idea, but not at that price,” she said.
While North Ranch Estates Boulevard residents might be able to afford to chip in 50 percent, Councilwoman Sonia Munoz-Gill said she was sure most of her district’s residents could not.
“We have to realize, if we did this project, this would
See CITY Page 3A
Chuck Pinto
Janis Kilgore works especially hard at creating a mug for her dad as a gift on Father's Day at Buck Pottery Monday morning in Gruene.
Serving New Braunfels and Comal County since 1852.
Helpingothers
Alzcare opens second facility in New Braunfels to help Alzheimer’s patients.
Jackson acquitted of molesting teenage boy
By Linda Deutsch
AP Special Correspondent
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — A jury acquitted Michael Jackson on Monday of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch — exonerating the pop star who insisted he was the victim of mother-and-son con artists and a prosecutor with a vendetta.
jurors also acquitted jackson of getting the boy drunk and of conspiring to imprison his accuser and the boy’s family at the storybook estate — a total legal victory but one that
may do little to improve his bizarre image, jackson had faced nearly 20 years in prison.
The courtroom was deathly still as the verdicts were read. Jackson, as motionless as he had been throughout the trial, dabbed at his eyes with a tissue. One of his lawyers burst into tears as the first verdicts were announced, and Jackson later stood and was embraced by his chief lawyer, Thomas Mesereau Jr. Some of the women in the
See JACKSON Page 2A
Vol. 154, No. 178 12 pages, 2 sections
500
56825
00001
Partly cloudy
High Low
95 72
Details .... 1B
DEAR ABBY 3B CLASSIFIEDS 4B COMICS 2B CROSSWORD 2B FORUM 4A OBITUARIES 3A SPORTS 5A TV GRIDS 3B
By Bon Maloney
Staff Writer
GRUENE — Everybody could use a little play time, and Tams Kilgore and her cousin, Hunter Moeller, were getting some Monday morning at Buck Pottery.
As her mom,
Shirley, looked on in the shade of the big oak tree at Buck’s,
Tanis and Hunter each worked mounds of clay, creating objects they’d later be able to play with themselves— or present as gifts.
The Kilgores and Moeller were among dozens of residents who participated in the annual Magical Child Creative Clay Workshop, which Dee and Terry Buck have put on for more than two decades as a benefit for the McKenna Children’s Museum.
Tanis, who is going into the seventh grade at Canyon Middle School, and Hunter, who will enter fifth grade at Carl
Schurz, don’t get to play with clay every day — particularly not the earthenware kind used by potters and sculptors.
Tanis has a little more experience than Hunter because a family friend is a sculptor, so shes been exposed to clay, Shirley said.
For Hunter, though, it’s a once-a-year thing — when he goes to Buck’s.
“We can take art,” he saki. “But we just paint and stuff.”
In addition to his coaster, Hunter made a badge much like a sheriff’s star. It said, “I hinter Moeller— U'go Man.” “He really likes Legos,” Shirley said. “The kids really enjoy this.”
Shirley wasn’t working in clay herself. She was watching — and taking on more of a consulting, or facilitating role.
“I help them out with designs and ideas,” she said.
See CLAY Page 2A
County receives petition seeking to incorporate Startzville
Proposed town \
01 ' VOI J&!
rX\V ^
v\ /A
CSJ
By Bon Maloney
Staff Writer
A petition with 62 signatures seeking a September election on whether to incorporate Startzville as a city was presented Monday to County Judge Danny Scheel.
William Wooley, owner of Buckeye Enterprises, and attorney Paul Swearingen brought tile petition to the courthouse. It seeks to incorporate the community south of Canyon Lake as a way of preserving its identity — and local control over its destiny.
“We ask that you consider the application and set a hearing on it to determine if we have enough valid signatures, and if we do, that you set a special election to let the citizens
decide,” Swearin-gen told Scheel.
Swearingen said supporters would next file
an application to M W
the U.S. Justice fit Jm
Department lot
election pier Ie,ti jjfk
ance.
“We want to Danny Scheel show in accordance with the Voting Rights Act that we aren’t discriminating against any voters in calling this election,” he said.
The proposed city boundaries would include the historic town of Startzville, which had about 7,300 residents in the 2000 Census. It would comprise about 8.1 square miles and
William County Clerk joy
Wooley Streater would
examine the signatures to detennine that each was an eligible registered voter, and the issue would then be placed on a future Commissioners’ Court agenda for an order that would place the question on a Sept. IO ballot.
“Commissioners’ Court is neutral on this,” Scheel said shortly after
receiving the petition in a brief press conference in the commissioners’ courtroom. “We ll go through the process as required by law and see what the public decides. I wish them the best of luck."
Wooley, whose hait-and-tackle business includes a bar with live music, said he and other Startzville area residents have been examining the incorporation issue for two years.
“We’ve had a lot of meetings and discussed it every way there is," Wooley told Scheel.
The signatures — 50 are required under the Texas local Government Code for an application to incorporate as a Type B General Law
See STABZVILLE Page 2A
A map of the proposed town of Startzville The town begins at the point of intersection of centerlines of FM 2673 and FM 31259. to southwest 0.92 miles along centerline of FM 3159, to north 45 degrees west 2.50 miles to a point go north 0 92 miles to a point go 48 degrees east 0 54 miles to southwest comer of Cranes Mill Park. to southeast along south property line of Cranes Mill Park to US Corps of Engineers Canyon Lake Property line, go right on 948 contour past and excluding Comal Park to intersection with the Creek centerline lust west of Kendra Lane, go southwest along said Creek centerline to centerline of FM 2673 lust west of Sunburst Lane, go northwest 05 miles along centerline FM 2673 to point of beginning
Weetaurant and PrlTreat IM to Live Oak Gii this S—day! 626-8178* 1440 IL HW—I Aw.
Monday - Thursday • Uam-9y Friday * Ham- 10pm Saturday • Bani - 10pm Now open Sunday • 8am - 3pn
______IL____«___IM __
;